Four houses city of Flint paid for, then rejected, sold at auction for fraction of their cost

FLINT, MI -- Flint taxpayers paid $72,000 for four houses that the city never used, and instead were sold to the highest bidder last year for a fraction of their cost.

The city rejected the houses in 2010 for use in the Smith Village housing development, and recently agreed to repay the federal government for them.

Meanwhile, Genesee County arranged to have the homes sold at auction in late 2011 for about $5,000-$7,500 each, said county Purchasing Director Eric Hopson.

"Most of the buyers were private owners who wanted to use
them for homes up north or homes on property they owned," Hopson said.

The houses were built in 2005 by middle
and high school students at the Genesee Area Skill Center as part of a
youth program by the Genesee County Community Action Resource
Department.

The city of Flint paid GCCARD $72,000
for the houses with grant funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development. The understanding was that the city would later move
the houses to the Smith Village subdivision, a
government-subsidized housing development just north of downtown that
had been delayed for a decade, officials said.

After the homes were completed, school staff at the Skill Center contacted GCCARD in 2006 and 2007 about their removal, according to letters obtained by The Journal.

"The
houses have passed State inspection and are wrapped tight awaiting your plan
for placement," reads a January 2006 letter from then-Principal Douglas Weir to GCCARD Executive Director Steve Walker.

But by the time the city got around to restarting Smith Village in 2010 -- years later -- city employees decided the four homes were not in good enough condition to use in the development, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said.

The homes sat at the Skill Center in Mundy Township until administrators there asked GCCARD to move them or dispose of them.

Hopson said GCCARD contacted his office, which made arrangements for the auction last year.

Tracy Atkinson, the city of Flint's director of the Department of Community and Economic
Development, said the city would not be entitled to any of the profits
from the auction, since the city didn't follow through on the agreement.

All four of the houses sold, Hopson said. One of them was never picked up by the buyer and was still sitting in the parking lot at the skill center as of last week.